Entertainment

6 Ways the Media Is Using Digital Tools to Cover the Election

Politicians have been deploying digital tools in new and innovative ways this election season, and the media outlets and journalists covering them have been doing the same. Throughout the 2012 battle for the White House, media outlets have been designing web apps dedicated to political coverage, while individual journalists have been tweeting and uploading photos nonstop.

These digital media innovations are giving readers unprecedented access to the election. Many of these online features are interactive, contributing to a two-way conversation between journalists and readers and changing the political journalism ballgame.

Follow along as Mashable highlights some of the ways the media and individual journalists are covering this election digitally.

1. Social Debates

Many of the networks that have hosted presidential debates have been using social media to allow viewers to ask questions directly to candidates. This idea isn't new in 2012, but it has become more mainstream.

NBC and Facebook teamed up to co-host a Republican debate during which viewers asked questions via Facebook and discussed the debate amongst themselves. Fox News used Twitter to instantly gauge each candidate's performance during a debate in South Carolina.

Social debates allow American citizens better access to candidates. They turn debate audiences from viewers into participants, increasing their sense of "ownership" in an election. By giving viewers a voice in a debate, network hosts are keeping their audiences tuned-in and engaged.

2. Election Centers

Many major news sites, including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel, are featuring 2012 election portals, which include all the organization's political coverage.

Online election centers are designed to be a one-stop shop for all things politics in 2012. Visitors to these portals can learn about the candidates and their stances on the issues that matter, access links to candidates' social media profiles or find out more about their financial backers.

If you want to know more about candidates or their stances on a particular issue, an online election center is the place to go.

3. Calendars and Interactive Maps

Calendars and maps are handy digital ways to show when and where a given candidate will be appearing on a certain day. With the ever-changing nature of campaign schedules, putting these calendars and maps online allows quick and easy updating to maintain accuracy.

At CNN, an interactive map and calendar show visitors when and where upcoming primaries and caucuses are to be held. Likewise, NBC has teamed up with Foursquare to map the 2012 campaign trail. Visitors can easily see where candidates (and NBC journalists) are appearing.

For example, Ron Paul won't be in Florida the night of the Republican primary, and the Politico tool helps explain why (Paul is focusing on later contests). That editorial insight adds usefulness to an already visually appealing tool.

4. Delegate Trackers

CNN, NBC and Politico all offer a "delegate tracker," which shows how many delegates each candidate has won thus far (winning delegates is the key to winning the Republican nomination for president).

CNN's delegate tracker adds some fun by allowing armchair campaign managers to guess the outcomes of upcoming contests. Users can then figure out how candidates must perform in order to keep moving forward in the nomination process. That interactivity keeps readers engaged with the story of the 2012 election season.

5. Print Goes Digital

Many publications with roots in the print world have been experimenting with digital methods to cover the presidential contest.

Over at The Washington Post's politics page, visitors can find an interactive "campaign finance explorer," which helps educate people on the candidates' sources of income. The New York Times launched a unique mobile app, which aggregates all of its 2012 election-themed content. And finally, Mother Jones is just one of the media outlets which have been experimenting with Storify to neatly collect tweets and photos of campaign events.

6. Twitter

Twitter is the social tool of choice for many political journalists. Major media outlets usually publish lists of their journalists who are active on Twitter, making it easy to follow them.

Political journalists on Twitter can provide a window into the electoral process that wasn't possible before the days of social media. Journalists can now bring each town hall, rally, primary and caucus to the screens of Americans across the country, opening up formerly local conversations to the rest of the nation.

Rick Perry will drop out of the Republican presidential race today, two sources tell CNN.

Political journalists, some assigned to one particular candidate, often tweet the most informative and immediate election news. Many often break news over Twitter, their followers becoming first to receive up-to-the-second campaign updates.

Some populist rage on foreclosures Romney-style: "The banks are incapable of making a decision." daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 23, 2012

Political journalists often become experts in the subject matter they cover. That equips them to share insights into the news of the day.

They also often interact with one another in conversations, which you can watch and learn from when you follow multiple political journalists (Twitter only lets you view @ messages when you follow both users).

Breaking news aside, these journalists often tweet minor, but telling scenes from the campaign trail. These "micro stories" include a candidate's offhand remarks during a campaign event, jabs at other candidates or information about candidates' strategies in important battleground states.

These kind of quick reports are well-suited to Twitter's 140-character limit. Occasionally, they'll grow and be turned into a story (or at least included in one). More often, they'll never move out of their first home; therefore, the tweet stream is the only place people will ever find them. That's a major change from years past, when such quips would have been archived in a reporter's notebook (or just in his or her brain), and the public would likely never hear them repeated.

What unique digital tools have you seen media organizations using during the 2012 election season? Let us know in the comments below.

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